A tubular post driving member telescopes over the post and has an upper end plate to deliver impact to the top of the post. The driving member has sets of handle sockets at different elevations and these sockets receive removable handles in either 180 DEG or 90 DEG spacing circumferentially of the post...http://www.google.com/patents/US3712389?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US3712389 - Post driver

A tubular post driving member telescopes over the post and has an upper end plate to deliver impact to the top of the post. The driving member has sets of handle sockets at different elevations and these sockets receive removable handles in either 180 DEG or 90 DEG spacing circumferentially of the post to permit driving of the post in different situations by two workers or one worker. Additional hand grips are provided for erecting the post and driver and for transporting. An adjustable depth gage may also be included on the driver.

[57] ABSTRACT A tubular post driving member telescopes over the post and has an upper end plate to deliver impact to the top of the post. The driving member has sets of handle sockets at different elevations and these sockets receive removable handles in either 180 or 90 spacing circumferentially of the post to permit driving of the post in different situations by two workers or one worker. Additional hand grips are provided for erecting the post and driver and for transporting. An adjustable depth gage may also be included 0n the driver.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENT EU JAN 2 3 197a INVENTOR BENJAMIN G. SHOAK ATTORNEY POST DRIVER A great need exists for an efficient fence post driver which is capable of sinking a post in hard soil in a very short period of time, without resorting to the use of expensive power equipment. Conventional manual tools, such as sledge hammers, are makeshift and also dangerous.

The objective of the invention is to provide a manually operated post driver which is constructed for use by one or two workers for driving fence posts and the like rapidly and with efficiency in tenns of maintaining the post vertical and driving it to a desired predetermined depth. By means of the tool, two men, for example, can drive a typical 6 or 6% foot post into hard ground within 10 to 15 seconds, achieving a 2%, foot ground penetration. The tool or driver in such a case would weigh approximately 50 pounds and the degree of impact can be increased by the use of manual pressure on the driver. The driver is entirely safe in that there is no likelihood of mangling the hands or fingers of the user, as so often happens with a hammer. Sharpening of the lower tip of the post generally is unnecessary. The driver is rugged and substantially indestructable. The length of the driver, such as 4 feet, can be selected to cause a precise post projection above ground when the lower end of the driver makes contact with the ground. An adjustable depth gage on the driver renders the tool more flexible for driving posts of various lengths to prescribed depths. The driver handles can be set in two operating positions for two man usage or one man usage. When the handles are in a right angular attitude on the driver, a post may be safely driven closely adjacent to existing barbed wire or the like.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following descrip tion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section and partly broken away, showing a post driver embodying the invention in association with a post to be driven.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the post driver.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view taken at right angles to FIG. 1 and showing the associated post driven nearly to a prescribed depth in the ground.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged horizontal cross section taken on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is another plan view of the driver with the handles positioned for operation by one worker or for driving a post close to an existing fence.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts, the numeral designates a cylindrical tubular sleeve constituting the body portion of the post driver and formed of steel or the like and being of a diameter and length to accommodate a post or a range of posts up to a certain size. For example, the driver body portion 10 may be 4 feet long and approximately 4 inches in diameter, although these dimensions may obviously be varied to meet particular needs. A driver of the approximate dimensions abovementioned would weight about 52 pounds.

The lower end of the body portion 10 is open to receive the post 11 and its upper end is closed by a heavy impact or driving plate 12 securely welded to the top of the body portion 10 and further reinforced by a strap handle 13 also welded to the opposite sides of the body portion and the plate 12. A pair of loop handles 14 are fixedly secured to the body portion 10 in vertical alignment and extend radially of the driver preferably in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the top handle 13. The handles 14 are near the opposite ends of the driver body portion. These handles may be used by two men for conveniently carrying thepost driver and they may also be used in conjunction with the top handle 13 for setting up or erecting the driver with the post inserted therein.

The post driver additionally embodies a pair of radiating main driving handles 15 which are removably mounted in a pair of diametrically opposed internally screw-threaded sockets 16 on the body portion 10 near and below its longitudinal center. An intermediate screw-threaded socket 16' is also provided midway between the two sockets 16 so that the operating handles 15 may be arranged in spacing, FIG. 5, in some instances, instead of spacing as in FIGS. 1 and 2. The handles 15 are threaded and are readily removable from the respective sockets. When arranged as in FIG. 1, two workers standing on opposite sides of the tool will grasp the two handles 15 for reciprocating the driver vertically with maximum force to drive the post. When the handles are arranged as in FIG. 5, one man or two men may operate the driver for placing a post close to existing fence wire 17, or adjacent to a wall or the like.

To render the tool more versatile for different workers and different lengths of posts, another pair of sockets 18 similar to the sockets 16 are provided at a lower elevation on the body portion 10 and these may also receive the handles 15 as indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 1.

An additional optional feature of the invention resides in the provision of an adjustable gage rod 19 on the post driver held within a sleeve 20, welded to the lower end portion of the driver and receiving the gage rod therethrough. A set screw 21 allows the rod 19 to be adjusted longitudinally of the driver and to project below its lower end for a predetermined distance, FIG. 3. This allows a post to be driven a rather exact distance into the ground bygaging ground contact with the lower end of the rod 19. In other cases, the rod 19 may be retracted above the lower end of body portion 10 and the posts may be driven to a uniform depth gaged only by contact of the ground with the lower end of the body portion 10. In some cases, the gage rod 19 and its holder means may be omitted entirely from the tool.

The various features and advantages of the invention over the prior art should now be readily apparent and it should be understood that various changesand refinements may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A post driver comprising an elongated tubular body portion adapted to be telescoped over a post and having a fixed driving head at one end thereof for delivering impact to the top of a post, at least a pair of screw-threaded radial handles for the body portion intermediate the ends thereof adapted to be grasped by two workers for reciprocating the post driver vertically, a pair of threaded socket elements on the body portion at diametrically opposed points receiving said handles detachably, and an intermediate threaded socket element on the body portion substantially midway between said pair of diametrically opposed socket elements, and allowing one of said screw-threaded handles to be connected with the post driver substantially in right angular relationship with the other handle.

2. The structure of claim 1, and at least one carrying handle for the driver on the side wall of the body portion fixed thereto.

3. The structure of claim 1, and a pair of aligned carrying handles on the body portion of the driver near opposite ends thereof.

4. The structure of claim 3, and said carrying handles comprising U-shaped loop handles lying in the same plane and welded to the body portion.

5. The structure of claim 1, and an additional pair of threaded socket elements on the body portion below the first-named pair and intermediate sockets to facilitate mounting said handles at a lower elevation on the driver.

6. The structure of claim 1, and an adjustable post depth gaging rod on the body portion including a sleeve holder for the gaging rod, and a set screw on the sleeve holder engageable with the rod to clamp it releasably in selected longitudinally adjusted positions.